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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

30 Rockin Yogurt

Last weekend we decided to do something touristy - something every New Yorker has to - I mean absolutely HAS to do, at least once in a New York lifetime.

No, it wasn't the red New York Sightseeing bus, much to my dismay. I would have preferred to go there, but alas, Hubby was adamant against it.

Instead, we visited 30 Rock, theme to the sitcom 30 Rock. Personally I don't really like the sitcom all that much, because I can't really understand much of their humor. But checking out the NBC studio was cool.

I like how the main square before the building were lined up with flags from every nation. That was a really nice international touch, though I couldn't find the Canadian flag =(

And at the lower concourse where the famous skating rink is in the wintertime was filled with parasols over an outdoor restaurant seating area.

And of course, who can forget the famous golden statue over the fountain. That was my favorite scene in Home Alone New York. I must have watched that movie 10 times when I was young.

We visited the MET store outside the building, and saw some really elegant things. I should really do my shopping there from now on, because you can really get some nicer things for much less than what you would get at say, Saks.

For a change of pace (and at Hubby's request), we visited the Lego store. Replete with giant murals built with lego pieces, this store was an eye candy. Too bad they didn't have edible lego pieces. I woulda really enjoyed that =)

They even have the Atlas carrying the globe on his back in lego pieces. Compare the above with the real one below:

Not similar at all but the first one is pretty cute. Atlas Shrugged is perhaps one of my favorite movies in the world. And my favorite line from it is probably,

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?"

Btw did you know Atlas Shrugged part 1 and 2 are out in movies already? Both are pretty disappointing (low budget films) but the second installment was particular bad with horrible actors.

Back to Legoland - there were toy models of planes and iconic NY buildings that you can assemble at home.

And giant floor-to-ceiling walls with lego pieces that you can collect in plastic boxes. These little kids were strategically grabbing some in their plastic boxes. They seemed to know exactly how many and what kinds they needed. Very cool.

Hubby's question was: how would you reach the ones at the top? I think they probably rotate which ones would be at the top and bottom now and then to mix things up.

There's also these little modules where you look inside the glass to find things like the Statue of Liberty in front of a Staten Island backdrop.

And of course the Rockettes inside Radio City.

Outside, we walked along 5th Ave among the throngs of tourists who were all sporting Abercrombie and Fitch bags. That must be a really popular store because everyone and their moms probably thinks its uber American.

I found these statues on the door near the Rockefeller Center very interesting, because it wasn't done in the art deco style like the rest of the parts. This was more neo-classical, a style I really liked from my recent trip in France.

And we visited the St. Patrick's cathedral. It was under construction at the moment, so much of the right hand pathway was blocked.

There was a wedding ceremony when we visited. The bride and groom sitting on the stage didn't seem to know what was happening for a few moments. They looked at each other, then at their maid of honor and bestman, then at the priest. Finally the priest got up and wished them good luck for the rest of their married lives.

The funniest thing was that after the wedding ceremony, there was another wedding in procession, and they had to usher out everyone in the cathedral. I felt kinda sorry for the priest who had to do probably 5 or 6 them back-to-back-to-back-to...you get the point.

After that we went back inside 30 Rock to visit their food court and check out the stores. I thought the art deco style mural in their front room was kind of...communist, with angular cuts and monotonic colors.

We also checked out the Swaroski store. These cute little rabbits were just so darling.

And I really wanted to get one of these little pin figures (especially the one with the rainbow coming out of his/her hair).

Where's my yogurt?

After the little walk around the block we were both kind of hungry, so we decided to make a stop at NYC Yogurt.

I really like how this store is decorated with NYC yogurt pumps that have the letter of the trains on the pump handle. Each "block" is color coded under famous streets in NYC. Except I couldn't figure out why they had R and Q with W (should be N, maybe didn't have that letter available).

We asked for some sample cups from the two cashiers who were standing around doing kind of nothing. One of them replied (half joking, half serious), "No you can't!" And then they took two sample cups and scooped it for us. That didn't happen at Yogurtland where the lady generous gave us a stack of sample cups each.

We sampled the pistachio and salted caramel. They were both really, really good.

So we got those two flavors and the strawberry-lemon sorbet.

There were a TON of toppings to choose from. We got the usual cookie bits and pretzels and some graham cracker bits. They didn't have the mochi bits like the other places did.

Then we took it to and outside park (because the inside seating area was full) to enjoy our lovely yogurt. The strawberry lemon sorbet tasted really healthy and actually pretty authentic. The graham cracker bits added a lovely crunchy texture to the soft smooth yogurt as well.

And the pistachio and salted caramel were just heavenly. So despite the poor service, the yogurt itself tasted delish.